Before I get in to this I just want to say that it can’t be easy to call a game if it’s not your full time job. With that said…..Mike and Mike have been calling games for the past year in the Arena League and Mike Ditka has been Football all of his life.

First up, Mike Greenberg. I don’t know what people see in this guy at all. He seems like he used to know his stuff, but he’s become so egotistical and craves camera time that he doesn’t seem to even care about the game. His level of incompetency last night was beyond words, and I hope I’m never subjected to it again. I forget who said it in the comments, but I will echo it here. Please go become the next Pat O’Brien as fast as you can.

Second, Mike Ditka…..really looked and sounded like he’d never seen a Football game in his life. I couldn’t understand him for the first two quarters at all, and contradicted himself on just about every play. I think it’s safe to say he won’t be invited back in the booth again after that showing.

Third, Mike Golic surprised me and a lot of others as well. Sure he had a few gaffs here and there (probably because Ditka was in his ear all night), but overall he was solid. I think if you trash the Kornheiser project and put him in with Tirico and Jaws you would have a hell of a team. One defensive analyst, one offensive analyst, and Tirico to keep it all together. That’s a winner right there.

Grade: D-

It would have been a Z if not for Golic.

Announcing Quotes of the Night:

“We will get a look at Alex Smith as the 49ers take over next.”- Mike Greenberg (It was the 2nd Quarter)

“Walt Harris is a good Football player, but he was a good player in Chicago.”- Mike Ditka (He played for them in 2001…two teams ago)

“That was mild pressure. That was a lot of pressure” – Ditka

“That’s the greatest 2 yard run you’ve ever seen”- Ditka

“That analysis by Mike sounded like something a dentist would say.”- Ditka

“I think it might have hit the ground but I think he caught it.”- Ditka

“A pass, a screen, a draw”- Mike GolicCommenting Quotes of the Night:

“I’ll make the first “Who’s got the number of a good divorce attorney?” joke of the 2nd game.”- Jeremy“Mike Ditka is giving more advice on running an offense. This from a guy who thought he could make the playoffs in his last job with two Billy Joes, Heath Shuler and Danny Wuerffel at quarterback.”- Anon

“Greeny sounds like a high school kid calling the JV game on 520 AM The Fan in Oshkosh Wisconsin.”- Anon

“I’d much rather listen to Mike Gottfried and Pam Ward stumble through this game than listen to Mike Greenberg’s voice that only dogs can hear.”- Dollar

“You know, when Bonnie Bernstein is far and away the most talented member of your announcing team, you might want to pack it in and call it a career.”- Oops Pow Surprise

“We need to give Greeny a break, I am sure he is drooling over Mike Nolan in his power broker suit. Greeny loves a sharp dressed man!”- Anon

“I swear Greeny sounds like he swallowed a dictionary and is throwing it up in our laps in a mess of adverbs, adjectives, superlatives, hyperbole and prepositions and Ditka is cut off from the Stroh’s!!”- Anon

“I just now noticed that Greeny has been calling Edge James ‘The Edge’ the entire game. “- Anon

“Mike Ditka was going to be a dentist. “Good Thing They Chose Football.” Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”- Anon

“This just in. Ditka just saw the TD replay. He says that Roger Craig scored the touchdown.- Anon

“We really need 2 Monday nighters every week. It’s been fun.”- Anon

(It has????)_______________________________

If you couldn’t gather from the comments this game was an abomination of all things Announcing. They talked over each other, they didn’t close their mics coming in and out of commercial, they laughed at their own jokes, they yelled at all the wrong times, and you really couldn’t understand a word they said for most of the first half.

I have no idea why ESPN didn’t go with Nessler and Vermeil again. That call made absolutely no sense. Actually it does make sense, they wanted to promote the radio show just like NBC hypes Countdown. I would rather listen to ANY announcing team them then. I’d listen to Charles Davis, Mike Gottfried….hell even Collin Cowherd before them. Just awful.

If you want to bring Golic in on a broadcast that’s fine, but I never want to see Ditka and Greenberg in a booth ever again. Ever.